Director JJ Abrams: Star Wars brought a huge heart and sense of humour into a world, which blew my mind

JJ Abrams, 47, is the writer/director/producer behind TV shows such as Lost and Alias, the recent Star Trek films and the forthcoming Star Wars sequels.

You’ve just published a new book, S. What’s it about? It’s an unusual experience. It’s a slip case that contains what looks like an old library book called The Ship Of Theseus. You open that and discover it has been annotated; two people have written back and forth to each other in the margins. You learn the author of the book is at the centre of a controversy and these two people are investigating his identity and a potentially more dangerous intrigue. Within the book are pieces of ephemera: postcards, maps, letters, artefacts of this investigation.

You didn’t write the book so what was your involvement with it? I had the idea several years ago. I knew it would be a love story and include pieces of ephemera. The British author Dennis Wheatley wrote mysteries that included packets of evidence about the murder investigation and the reader would have to open these envelopes to get more details about the story. That stuck with me because we had one of those when I was growing up. I was introduced to the author Doug Dorst, I pitched him the idea and he said he’d love the opportunity to work on it. It was a chance for him to work on something very special.

You’ve said you wrote some dodgy screenplays at university – what were they about? In fairness, I don’t think I’ve stopped writing dodgy screenplays. When I was in college I wrote around ten screenplays. Some were about young people going through crazy adventures. Some were more offbeat – there was always an odd love story at the core of it. It was the beginning of wanting to try to figure out how to write a screenplay. There’s never a moment you go from being an amateur writer doing the best you can to being a professional writer who does great – you’re always doing the same thing but if you’re lucky at some point, you make a living from it. I don’t feel any different when I sit down to write something today than I did back in college. It still starts with: ‘What if I did this?’

Would you want to revisit any of those screenplays? There was one about insomniacs in love that I think I should take a look at to make sure it’s as bad as I remember.

You’ve worked on Star Trek and now Star Wars. Are people in their thirties and forties too reluctant to let go of things they liked as children? Is it healthy? I’m not sure there’s any difference in this generation as opposed to others – whether it’s sports or novels or TV re-runs, you can always find instances where people have been reading or doing the same thing they enjoyed as kids. With some reboots, it’s more a case of studios finding it easier to sell certain things that have a pre-existing audience. I’m desperate to continue to tell stories that aren’t based on something that pre-exists but I couldn’t be more grateful to be part of something like Star Trek. I never got into it as a kid and then getting to work on it as an adult I discovered the heart, the comedy, pathos, excitement and adventure of that world many years after my friends did. It’s an incredible honour.

What are your favourite aspects of the original Star Wars films? The first Star Wars film felt incredibly authentic, it was wildly fun, you could feel it – it had wonderful characters and relationships and was incredibly inventive and moving. The first Star Wars movie was so brilliant in its construction, execution, casting, design. I’d never seen anything like it. It brought a huge heart and sense of humour into a world, which blew my mind. I saw it at 11 and remember being completely rocked.

How are you dealing with the fan expectation surrounding the new films you’re working on? Just by working hard with people who are incredibly good at their jobs.

You visited the set of Downton Abbey. What do you like about it? It’s absolute soap opera done triple-A plus. The characters go places you never expect and the rules of that society allow for wonderful storytelling because there is behaviour that’s forbidden, which barely exists any more. It’s cleverly written and brilliantly cast. It lets you enjoy what is, at the core, a pulpy family drama but done with such respect and regard for the characters, you feel they’re all alive. And think of how many there are – I thought we had a lot of characters on Lost but it’s amazing they’re able to spin that many plates and make you feel for them all.

Would it benefit from added lens flare? That’s the only thing it’s lacking – an enormous amount of lights directed into the camera. That would improve the show at least ten times.